Can-opener



(Model.)

F. SHARP.

GAN OBBNER.

Patented Aug. 24, 1886.

NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRANK SHARP, OF OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA.

CAN-OPENER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 347,834, dated August 24, 1886.

Application filed November 23, 1885. Serial No. 183,658. (Model.)

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, FRANK SHARP, a citizen of the United States, residing at Oakland, in the county of Alameda, State of California, have invented certain new and useful lmprovements in Can-Openers, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

The object of the present invention is to cheapen the construction, and otherwise improve the peculiar form of can-opener seen in Reissued Patent No. 10, 443, granted to me January 29, 1884. In said patent the knife or cutter is shifted by ascrew whose opposite ends are so journaled in the implement as to render said screw incapable of any longitudinal movement, a thuinbavheel being securely fastened to the screw to enable it to be properly turned in said journal-bearings; but in the improved implement the cutter is rigidly coupled to the outer end of a non-rotating screw, andthe latter is capable of being advanced and retracted by means of the thumbwheel, which wheel is now arranged as a nut, and is confined between suitable bearings or shoulders that prevent said nut shifting longitudinally of the bar. As a result of this arrangement, any turning of said nut causes the aforesaid non-rotating screw to advance or retract, thereby shifting the knife to the desired position on the supporting-bar, the screw, when retracted, being housed within the handle of' the implement, as hereinafter more fully described.

In the annexed drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of my improved can-opener, the knife or cutter of the same being advanced. Fig. 2 is a sectionized plan of the implement, the cutter being retracted. Fig. 3 is a sectionized plan of the bar, the screw and cutter being omitted from the same. Fig. 4C is an enlarged transverse section of the implement, taken in the plane of the cutter. Fig. 5 shows a modification of the handle.

In the present case the handle A, bar B, and penetrating point or beak G are made of a single piece either of cast or wrought metal, said point being suitably hardened to enable it to pierce the tops of cans and similar receptacles. Furthermore, a shoulder, D, is

formed at the junction of the handle A with the bar B, and on the upper side of said bar, and slightly in advance of said shoulder is situated a rib, flange, or equivalent projection, E, which shoulder and rib serve as bearings that prevent longitudinal shifting of the thumb-wheel F. This wheel is milled or flnted externally, as seen in Fig. 1, to afford a rm grasp of' the same, and is threaded internally to serve as a nut for the nou-rotating screw G, which latter has, preferably, a steep thread to insure a rapid movement of the knife or cutter H, said cutter being of any approved form. The shank of the'cutter has a circular hole, I, (seen in Fig. 4,) within which .is rigidly fitted a short cylindrical spindle, J,

of the screw, the outer end of said spindle being headed up to afford a secure attachment of said cutter. In addition to this circular hole, the cutter has a slot, K, that admits the bar B, said barbeing usually rounded or convex on its lower side. The inner end of the screw passes freely through an unthreaded holeL, in the handle, and the latter is generally made with a central slot or other opening, M, that materially diminishes the weight of the implement without weakening the same.

rlhis implement is used in practically the same manner as the can-opener seen inthe patent previously alluded to-that is to say, the beak O is first driven into the end or side of the can, and near the center of the same. Y

The thumb-wheel F is then turned either to the right or left, thus shifting the knife H until it arrives at a position Where it can be brought to operate at asuitable distance within the margin of the can-head. The handle A is then depressed, thereby driving the point of the knife through the head, and said handle being thenl preserved in a horizontal position and drawn toward the operator, a diskshaped piece is at once cut out of the can. As the thumb-wheel F is confined between the shoulder D and flange or rib E, and as the non-rotating screw G travels freely Within the boreL of the handle, it is evident any manipulation of said wheel must cause the cutter either to advance or recede along the bar B, the' principal portion of' said screw occupying the slot M of the handle when said cutter is retracted, as seen in Fig. 2; but in the modification of my invention seen iu Fie. 5 this IOO slot is omitted from the handle A', and the latter has an unthreaded chamber, L', to receive said screw.

I claim as my invention 1. The combination, in a can-opener, of a pointed bar along which travels anadjustable knife rigidly secured to a non-rotating screw, said screw being advanced and retracted by a confined nut, which latter is capable of being IO turned either to the right or left, for the pur-- pose stated.

2. The combination, in a cairopener, of a pointed bar along which travels an adjustable knife rigidly secured to a non-rotating screw I5 that occupies the handle of the implement when retracted, said screw being 4advanced FRANK SHARP.

Vitnesscs:

JAMES H. LAYMAN, SAML. S. CARPENTER. 

